Home Sales Tumble

[Kiwi Phil]

Re: Home Sales Tumble

Captmello.
OK...now I see what you are getting at.
We too have property taxes and insurance, (we have different names).

We separate our mortgage costs from these. One way of getting my costs down was to get rid of my mortgage.

On your figures, you are paying just under $10k per year?? That is an awful lot.

I pay under $3k yr rates, water, insurance, for the acreage (no sewer), and a little less on the town property (800m sq land) with sewer.

I think (think!!) I get value for my money.

Cheers
Phillip

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Home Sales Tumble

Half my monthly payment is for property taxes and Homeowners insurance.

Tell me about it. Between those 2 things and the PMI I'm pretty well stuck with on my FHA loan, I'm paying like $400 a month on top of my mortgage. PA school taxes are WAY out of control.

 

[Fly Rod]

Re: Home Sales Tumble

Tell me about it. Between those 2 things and the PMI I'm pretty well stuck with on my FHA loan, I'm paying like $400 a month on top of my mortgage. PA school taxes are WAY out of control.

Check this out to see if you still need to pay the PMI. Back a few years ago the insurance company did not need to tell you that you could drop the PMI once you got below 80% of your property value, it was up to you to notify them

http://www.frbsf.org/publications/consumer/pmi.html#what

 

[JRJ]

Re: Home Sales Tumble

Homes are selling here and even some new subdivisions showing up. Good signs.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Home Sales Tumble

Check this out to see if you still need to pay the PMI. Back a few years ago the insurance company did not need to tell you that you could drop the PMI once you got below 80% of your property value, it was up to you to notify them

http://www.frbsf.org/publications/consumer/pmi.html#what

"Your lender may require evidence that the value of the property has not declined below its original value and that the property does not have a second mortgage, such as a home equity loan." FAIL

 

[skargo]

Re: Home Sales Tumble

Home sales are picking up here, and values aren't terrible. We sold 3 pieces of property in 2005, right before the bottom fell out(little did we know) and we made out like fat cats. We built our new house in 2006, and were lucky enough to have invested properly(luckily?) that we could pay cash.
Last month we got our new tax assessment of around $360K, which was $50K less than our initial assessment in '06. That in no way reflects market value, which surprisingly is more than the government's tax valuations.
I'm glad the house is still worth more than we have in it. I'm sure the next assessment will go back up again!

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Home Sales Tumble

I'm in a middle class neighborhood and house sales here are still in the dumper. At the height of the market, houses in my area were selling for 2, if not 3 times what they are selling for now. A little 2 br fixer was sold for $200K 3 years ago, was foreclosed on, and then sold 6 months ago for 68K. Several other houses that have gone back to the bank have sold for 40-50% of their price when sold at the top of the market. All of the houses being foreclosed/sold were the ones bought at the top of the market...

I actually wonder if the banks have a handle on the situation, that's a rhetorical question . During August of 2008 a family on our street packed up in the middle of the night and bailed. Since then, there has been no activity on the house besides a sticker on the front door saying it was foreclosed. For sale signs? Nope. Real estate people coming by to look at it? Nope. It's like the place fell off the radar.

 

[skargo]

Re: Home Sales Tumble

That's a whole 'nother can of worms fishrdan. MANY irresponsible deadbeat bottom feeders are simply walking away, because they decided to use their homes artificially inflated equity as an ATM for their toys.
Makes me really angry, as those of us who are responsible, and live within ur means end up holding the proverbial bag.
Maybe if banks wised up and would only lend 75% of the homes value, instead of making it so that Joe 40 grand a year couldn't move into a $750K house, we wouldn't be in this mess.

 

[642mx]

Re: Home Sales Tumble

Homes around here are still selling quickly. My neighbor sold his house in 1 week. He said he priced it a little high thinking someone would give him a low-ball offer..... as it turns out the people who bought the house didn't make an offer, they paid full asking price! BTW, it was a 3 bed, 2 bath, 1700 sq ft brick home in a subdivsion.... went for $179K.

 

[JB]

Re: Home Sales Tumble

Roughly ten trillion dollars ($10,000,000,000,000.00) in home "equities" and uncollectable debt evaporated in the Fall of '07.

It is gone. Forget it.

If you survived, congratulations.

If not, I sympathize. Quit whining, brush the dust off and start over.

 

[Fly Rod]

Re: Home Sales Tumble

Roughly ten trillion dollars ($10,000,000,000,000.00) in home "equities" and uncollectable debt evaporated in the Fall of '07.

It is gone. Forget it.

If you survived, congratulations.

If not, I sympathize. Quit whining, brush the dust off and start over.

Well said.

 

[skargo]

Re: Home Sales Tumble

Roughly ten trillion dollars ($10,000,000,000,000.00) in home "equities" and uncollectable debt evaporated in the Fall of '07.

It is gone. Forget it.

If you survived, congratulations.

If not, I sympathize. Quit whining, brush the dust off and start over.

It's a LOT easier said than done, for this country. It's all I am saying as I don't want to take this into the political arena here...

 

[Fly Rod]

Re: Home Sales Tumble

As the housing market started to depreciate since 2005 home owners should have had their property re-assessed. A depreciating market is the time to file for an abatement with the city or town assessors. A majority of my clients did not know anything about an abatement or how to file for one. Where I live you only have the month of January to file. It may be different in other cities or towns. You can hire an appraiser or have a Realtor help you with the abatement. Some Realtor's do charge for this service.

Keep in mind that not all property assessments will be devalued, some will stay at their present assessment, some will decline and others may rise.

 

[eastont]

Re: Home Sales Tumble

Our housing market has remained fairly stable throughout the last 2-3 years. I read that the marget in and around Toronto has actually kept climbing. The average climbed between 5 & 9%. But the latest is the bubble might be ready to burst this coming spring & summer.
I just can't believe how some people can afford to pay over $500,000 for a 3 bdrm house without a driveway and needs work. That's what sold last week, a couple of doors down from my brother's house in the beach/beaches.

 

[j_martin]

Re: Home Sales Tumble

I just can't believe how some people can afford to pay over $500,000 for a 3 bdrm house without a driveway and needs work. That's what sold last week, a couple of doors down from my brother's house in the beach/beaches.

They probably can't. That's how we got in the fix we're in now. Einstein defined insanity as trying the same thing that failed every time, and expecting different results.

my 02
John

 

[tx1961whaler]

Re: Home Sales Tumble

They probably can't. That's how we got in the fix we're in now. Einstein defined insanity as trying the same thing that failed every time, and expecting different results. John

This is what happened when people moved their basic housing needs from the "Expenses" column to the "Investment" column. Basic housing (say median price) should be no more than a given multiple of the median income for that area, with some exceptions for resort type areas, landlocked areas, etc. Basic housing is a necessity item, not a get-rich-quick scheme. When people (and entire industries and governments) mentally made the change from "necessary expense", like your car, to "investment", like a stock, then that's where the problems started.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Home Sales Tumble

Basic housing is a necessity item, not a get-rich-quick scheme.

Ahhh yes, remember all those reality "house flipping" TV shows they had on several years ago? Buy a house for 100K, put 50K into it, and then sell it for 200K. $50,000 profit in a couple months.....

 

[Kiwi Phil]

Re: Home Sales Tumble

This is what happened when people moved their basic housing needs from the "Expenses" column to the "Investment" column. Basic housing (say median price) should be no more than a given multiple of the median income for that area, with some exceptions for resort type areas, landlocked areas, etc. Basic housing is a necessity item, not a get-rich-quick scheme. When people (and entire industries and governments) mentally made the change from "necessary expense", like your car, to "investment", like a stock, then that's where the problems started.

Yes!!
Cheers
Phillip

Off the track a bit but:

My Dad would be mid 90's if he was alive.
He started out as a 15yr old cadet on the Rail, did an accounting degree, retired as the GM.
This is what he always told me:
1. you should not pay more than 5 times your annual salary for your house.
2. have a cash deposit of 20%
3. repayments should not exceed 33% of your income
4. a loan is always a liability and never a asset.
5. a home only becomes an asset when repayments fall below 33% of renting a house. (I think he said 33%....long time ago).
6. You can never buy a home. You buy a house and your mother makes it a home.
7. your mother contributes more to the home by raising me and you 4 kids than if she worked. (he always called himself 'the oldest one')

I told my 2 oldest this and they (and their partners) look at me as if to say "WTX is the silly old buxxar talking about'